Disclaimer: I would like to remind you all once again that I do not own the characters of my story nor their background. Everything belongs to J. K. Rowling. I own only the plot of my Fic:
"Harry Potter and the Return of the Dark Lord"
By: Cris.carla
III
Luna's Happy Thought
Back to the Burrow Harry did exactly as he had planned. He sent a note to Hermione and asked Hedwig to go and find her. 'Till now she had always been able to find her no matter where she was. Hedwig was a special Owl and Harry was very proud of her. She had become a companion for him in the dread days they had spent at his uncles home. Hard times when all he could feed her was his leftovers and some rats she hunted whenever he had the opportunity of letting her out to hunt.
As soon as he returned to the kitchen Mrs. Weasley asked Bill for a full report of what had happened and unfortunately for them he was too honest to lie to her. So he told her all about Draco's threats, Ron's fight, the fake Hermione and of course Luna's heroic act in the neck of the moment.
After he finished his report Mrs. Weasley got so upset that she grounded them all, even Bill. She then sent an Owl to Mr. Lovegood inviting him and his daughter to have dinner with them that same night. She was going to be eternally grateful to Luna and of course the least she could do was to reward her with a feast and as soon as she made sure they were all in their rooms as she had determined she started preparing all the delicious things she was able to cook.
Harry could sense from afar the wonderful smell of Molly's scrumptious food and his mouth watered. Ron's pacing around the room was driving him crazy and he was getting starved. He knew Ron was still worried about Hermione but there was nothing he could do or say that would make his friend's heart rest. He was connected to her in a way that nobody else would ever be, he was sure of it. His two friends had something special going on between them since the day they had first met but they where just too stubborn or too shy to admit it.
His story with Ginny was very different from theirs. She had fallen in love with him at first sight but Harry saw her only as a sister so he blew it. After getting tired of being uncared for him she got over him and moved on. First she dated Corner and now she was dating Dean.
What hurt Harry the most was the fact that even if she did like him he couldn't afford to be with her. It would be her ruin and he wouldn't bear loosing her too. He had lost almost everyone he cared about and he was not going to put her at risk too. The best he could do was to get over it.
As soon as Mr. Weasley arrived Molly informed him of what had happened and as expected he got very mad at them. He lectured them about the lack of responsibility and the careless. He was so mad that he actually yelled at them and Harry had never seen him yell at anyone before.
The Lovegood arrived at eight o'clock and Molly received them as if they were royalty. She allowed the youngsters to live the room to have dinner but she warned them that they would return to their rooms as soon as had finished their meal. None of them complained because they were all aware of the gravity of what they had done. They had put themselves in risk and if they had been killed, or worst captured they could have given Voldemort the weapon he needed to defeat the Order of the Phoenix.
Luna was half absent as always but Molly didn't seem to notice that. She was so grateful that she had become her heroine. After saving the life of her progeny and Harry, of course, she could do the weirdest things that Molly wouldn't care. She had won a place in Molly' s heart and nothing would change that, unless, of course she became evil and Luna was too pure and too innocent for that.
During mealtime Luna's father told Molly all about his incredible little girl and how she had been orphan so soon and Mrs. Weasley got tearful. She told him how grateful she was to Luna for saving her kids and the girl seemed to be very flattered from all the attention Molly was giving her so she started talking about how she always had admired Harry, Ginny, Hermione and Ron and how she had been happy when they had become friends of her. Harry and the others exchanged surprised looks. They barely knew her and even after she had tag along into the Ministry they hadn't become close to her. In fact Ginny was the only one who seemed to like her. Harry had to admit to himself that after what had happened in the Department of Mysteries he had started seeing her in a different way. She was very weird of course but she was kind of OK.
Luna went on telling Mrs. Weasley how she usually had fun when she was around them and how Ron made her laugh with his brilliant sense of humour but then she got distracted with the approaching of a white Owl.
" Isn't that you're Owl Harry?" she asked and Harry got up so fast that he knocked down his chair as the others looked him taken aback but he didn't care.
He grabbed Hedwig and practically ripped the note of her leg making her fly away resentful but he didn't really care. He then unwrapped it and read it in the blink of an eye while the others looked at him apprehensively.
"It's from Hermione!" announced Harry " She says she couldn't come to the Diagon Alley because her flight got delayed. She says she missed us a lot and that she's looking forward to meet us at the King's Cross tomorrow."
"That's it? Her Flight got delayed? What in the bloody hell is that?" asked Ron infuriated.
"Is she travelling by Plane?" said Mr. Weasley excited.
"Yes, she is." said Harry smiling at Mr. Weasley's excitement.
"Muggles really are fascinating Ron." said Mr. Weasley enthusiastically "They built a really big thing that can float on air and take people to any part of the world. Without magic." he emphasized.
"Fascinating? How about weird?"
" You're father is right, Ron." said Mr. Lovegood and Mr. Weasley went on talking about muggles and his curious way of life.
Everything was going fine until Fred had one of his ideas to shake things up a bit.
"Hey Luna! I'm a little curious about something. Can you please share with us what was you're happy thought. It had to be a good one to rid us of all that nasty Dementors."
And chaos was unleashed. Ron pinched his tongue with the fork and he howled in pain. Harry dropped his fork to the floor and Ginny spilled her juice all over Bill who got up so fast that he knocked Charlie down. As Charlie got up a little dizzy by the fall everyone was looking at Luna in complete shock while Fred and George were rolling with laughter. She was definitely a very frank person. Everyone looked at her expectantly because she had a knack of speaking uncomfortable truths.
"Well…" said Luna calmly "It was Ron actually. Ron holding the School's Quiddich cup."
And chaos was set loose once again. Ron choked on his juice and got red as a tomato. Harry swallowed the whole potato and had to drink some water not to choke on it. Ginny cuffed her juice out and Bill had to tap her back a few times as he was gulping his juice all at once while Charlie was trying to cut his meat with the fork. Fred and George were, of course, still rolling with laughter and Molly and Arthur looked at her mouth agape. Her father seemed to be the only one who hadn't noticed the bomb she had dropped on them.
When everyone had recovered from the shock and when Fred and George had finally stopped laughing Ron mumbled an excuse and left the table swiftly. Luna seemed a little confused with what had just happened.
"Did I say something wrong?" she asked.
"Oh! No! It's just that we were not expecting that you… Never mind. It's just that we didn't know that you where so fond of Ron." said Mrs. Weasley a little embarrassed herself.
After dinner Luna and her father thanked Molly for the wonderful meal and after she had thanked Luna another hundred times they left.
Harry waited a while and then he went up to check upon Ron. He wanted to know how was he coping with what had just happened. Ron was lying on his bed but Harry could tell by his breathing that he was not asleep.
"Ron? Ron I know you're awake. I just wanted to know if you're OK." Ron turned his head to face him.
"Harry do you think she's… I mean… She can't be right?"
"I think Luna is in love with you if you want to know my opinion. I think she loves you for quite a while now."
"Why me? What can she possibly like about me?" said Ron confused.
" How the hell am I suppose to know. I'm not a girl."
Harry knew that Ron was thinking in what would Hermione have to say about that but he said nothing. Ron was still disturbed by that day's strange events and he would only rest when he saw Hermione in flesh and blood and who could blame him for that. Hermione was their stronghold. She had always been there to guide them and to advise them. She was the one they could count on whenever they found themselves in trouble. She had an answer for everything and she was usually right when she warned them not to do something. In fact they had ended up in tricky situations every time they had ignored her forewarnings.
Harry was sure she would definitely be the right person to advise Ron about Luna if she wasn't fond of him herself. Actually she tended to be a little unreceptive to Luna's ideas and she didn't seem to like her very much and all because of her obvious interest on Ron.
"Harry?"
"Yes, Ron?"
"Do you think she's OK? I mean this could have been a fake message right? What if she…"
"Don't Ron… You have to stop thinking about it. I'm sure she's fine. They used that girl for bate because they knew we would fall for that. Don't give it anymore thoughts."
"Maybe you're right. I mean… Bad news always travel fast, right?"
"Right." said Harry trying to sound more confident than he really was. " Tomorrow at King's Cross we will finally see her again and she will have tones of thinks to tell us, you'll see. Now let's get some sleep, you know the drill, tomorrow we have an early wake up call."
After putting on their pyjamas they went to bed and Ron turned the lights off. It was hard for Harry to fall asleep but after a while his exhaustion triumphed over him and he fell asleep. He woke up in the middle of the night after having a horrible nightmare with Hermione being taken to Voldemort by Malfoy. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep again after that. Ron was also awake he could tell by his breathing but all they could do was wait.
A/N: I truly hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. I had lots of fun writing it and I hope you it amused you too. This is the end of Harry's holidays and you have no idea what a school year he's going to get. I hope you continue reading my work because I assure you it will be worth it. There's going to be a lot of action and grieve but a lot of laughable moments too. Just wait and see.
I would like to thank once more to Purinsu Endymion and to She-Elfgirl for their wonderful reviews and for all the support.
Once more I ask to all those who read my Fic. to please review I would really appreciate it.
See you soon
Cris.carla
